hot pink geranums

peonies are my favourite flower because, well they are just so beautiful. so full, so rich, so exotic, so heady and voluptuous, so layered in beauty. i love them. i can imagine loving peonies my whole life long.

i have a big pot which now resides outside door and inside this pot i planted a peony which has not yet bloomed, although i hope next year is our year, a begonia and a geranium. the begonia didn't come back last year. the geranium did. let's talk about geraniums. i don't particularly like their smell. they almost smell like medicine. they're not exactly glorious but they can be a pretty splash of colour. they will probably never be my favourite flower, but i like them.

why i like geraniums despite their smell--by laura clarke

1. i like them because they are so hardy. mine seems to thrive on neglect. i've barely done one thing for my geranium and it's spread out and made itself at home

2. it's flowering time can go from spring to fall. i still have blossoms on mine. i appreciate the longevity.

3. i like them because they remind me of gram. in fact i picked the hot pink geranium plant solely because of her. when i lived with her she had these window boxes stuffed full with double ruffled hot pink geraniums. you know that area she had at the back door of al's house? the covered area with a picnic table? the window boxes ran all along there full of their wild pink brashness. do you remember this?

when i lived with gram and al i loved having a room in the attic. i think i had always wanted an attic room. i thought they were romantic. i loved the big soft bed that sagged in the middle too. i didn't even mind how the broken springs would shoot out suddenly and stab an innocent knee or shin. i loved the old fashioned reading lamp that hung on the iron frame of that bed. i loved laying in that bed with the reading lamp on, my window open and hearing the walnuts fall on the roof and the drive way.

when i lived with gram i would wait until her and al went to bed and then i would make myself a bowl of popcorn in the wooden bowl and dump butter and parmesean on it and watch designing women and mash before going to bed. in the morning gram or al would comment on how the lingering popcorn smell made them crave popcorn.

when i lived with gram and al i would sit with them at the kitchen table and play racko or crib or we'd each play our own game of soletaire. i'd come home from my shift and mcdonald's and tell them all about my day, periodically fixing gram with a glare and accusing "are you listening to me??".

when i lived with gram and all i walked home from work along back alleyways, talking to seniors in their backyards and on their walks. i dreamed of living on my own and gram helped me make pillows and hot pads for my future place. that's where i started making my mauve and teal quilt with al's first wife's antique fabric. i knew exactly how i wanted it and several times had to argue with gram over details. she'd always give up and say something like "you always have to have your own way." or "you'll see i'm right later." and i would just laugh.

when i lived with gram and al i went stir crazy when they went away on trips or for their week at the temple and wondered how i'd ever live alone. when they were home, gram would giggle and hop around as she tried to unlock the back door before she peed her pants.

when i lived with gram and al i appeared to be allergic to lilacs and once got hives on only the right side of my body.

when i lived with gram it was a time when doug and delanie and john and slavica were still newly weds with fledgling families. and katie left on her mission after a family gathering at which the boys sang "stomp around lou".

when i lived with gram and al i experienced the birth of my adult testimony and the strongest feeling of love from Heavenly Father that i'd ever felt before.

it was an important time in my life and i got to spend them with gram. i'm thankful for the kind of woman she was. generous, hard working, kind, sassy, laughing, loving, giving, firey, adventurous, independent, living life to the fullest. i never doubted once ever that she loved me. it's an honour for me to have her name. i can't wait to see her again, to hug her, tease her and laugh with her.

geraniums--you brought me down this road.